Croc kills man, stalks mates

Two men clung to a tree for 22 hours, terrified and rain-soaked, after a crocodile killed their mate in a swollen river in the Northern Territory.

Shaun Blowers and Ashley McGough, both 19, huddled together in the tree at Finniss River, 80 kilometres south-west of Darwin, after the killer crocodile "showed off" the body of Brett Mann in its jaws, before stalking them through the night and next morning.

The trio had been on a quad bike ride on Sunday and were washing off their mud-soaked bodies in the afternoon when Mr Mann, 22, was swept away in the fast-flowing river.

The pair swam out to rescue him, but were beaten by a four-metre saltwater crocodile lurking nearby.

"We'd been playing around in the mud and everything on our bikes, and spraying each other just like we normally do," Mr Blowers said. "We went down to the river, parked the bikes just up off the banks... and just had a bit of a bath, just washing all our clothes and boots and everything else full of all sand and mud," he said.

"Brett went out just a little bit further, it was a real sandy bank, and just lost his footing and got swept away.

"We both jumped in and swam after him and we got in front of him and were leading him back to the bank.

"I went past the croc, I didn't see it, Ashley (did and) screamed out 'croc, croc'... we just swam to the nearest tree and straight up we went.

"We were looking around for Brett (but) didn't hear a thing, didn't hear a scream, no splashing or anything.

"Two minutes later the croc brought Brett to the surface and pretty much showed him off to us and off he swam," Mr Blowers said.

"Five minutes later he was back stalking the tree around us - he just hung around us all night and pretty much all the next morning."

The pair were winched to safety by police in a helicopter at 3.30pm on Monday after a day-long search, mounted when the alarm was raised by friends and family anxious at the group's failure to return as expected on Sunday night.

They were treated for shock and exposure at Royal Darwin Hospital and released last night. Mr Blowers said the knowledge that his family was looking for him helped get him through the horrific ordeal. "I knew they would be out... when they found out I wasn't home," he said. "I didn't expect to be found that night but I knew they would be out looking." The pair huddled together to stay warm, with the tree swaying in the wet and windy conditions brought by Cyclone Debbie, which skirted the Northern Territory early this week.

"(We said) not a whole lot until the morning, we just sort of made sure - because we couldn't see each other all night, it was so dark and cold - I had my hand on Ashley's foot pretty much... we were just checking on each other making sure we weren't going to sleep," Mr Blowers said.

The scene of the crocodile attack and rescue at Finniss River, south-west of Darwin.Channel Nine

Authorities searched the river yesterday for the remains of Mr Mann, a diesel mechanic from Darwin, and for the crocodile.

The poor weather hampered the search, involving a helicopter, several dinghies and police on quad bikes. Police later called off the search due to deteriorating weather, and said they would reassess the situation this morning.

Commander George Owen said low cloud and driving rain had grounded the helicopter, while the flooded condition of the Finniss River was too dangerous for boat operations.